TWO men accused of attacking an older man outside a pub – leaving him with a broken leg and head injuries – have both been found guilty of common assault.
A jury of six men and six women at the Royal Court acquitted 24-year-old Kenneth Skinner and 22-year-old Sean Downey of grave and criminal assault, but unanimously found them both guilty of the lesser charge.
The trial related to an incident outside The Oxford pub in October 2023, where the victim and Skinner had both drinking. Skinner had been ejected after an argument about a payment, but came back less than an hour later, together with Downey.
During the trial, witnesses described how the pair had stood in the doorway of the pub and shouted, and how patrons had filed outside, despite the landlord trying to stop them.
Mobile phone footage taken from a passing car showed the victim being punched to the ground and kicked. An X-ray later revealed a broken leg in addition to head injuries.
Neither denied that this has happened, but Skinner said he had acted in self-defence and defending his friend.
Downey admitted a common assault, but said that the offence was not serious enough to represent a grave and criminal assault.
Crown Advocate Paul Lee, prosecuting, had claimed the pair had come back to the pub “looking for a fight”, and that they had worked together in the assault. Both had punched the victim and Skinner had kicked him, he said.
In his closing speech, Advocate Olaf Blakeley, defending Skinner, said there was no evidence the pair had been looking for a fight. Instead, he said, the victim had attacked them first.
Advocate Greg Herold-Howes, defending Downey, pointed out that there was no evidence they had come up with “a grand plan to cause trouble during the space of a two-minute phone call”.
The date for their sentencing is due to be fixed. The Deputy Bailiff, Robert MacRae, was presiding.
